The Sensible Geek

Dear Representatives Dunshee and Hope, and Senator Hobbs,
I write to you today to express my disapproval of HB 2837 and SB 6452 in their current forms.

Specifically, I object to 2 things.

1) Limited service pregnancy centers are unjustly singled out.  Comprehensive centers should be held to the same standard of medical information and service disclosure as limited centers.  If centers that do not offer abortions or abortion referrals will be required to disclose that upon the first contact with a person seeking services, then centers that do not offer adoption assistance or referrals should be required to disclose that information immediately as well.

2) Section 2 constitutes an incredible cost burden to agencies that are for the most part non-profit, and are supported solely by charitable donations.  Requiring a 30 point font on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, on the door of the office, inside the office, on the agency’s website, and in any promotional materials represents a significant cost for organizations that often times already hang by a thread.

A more balanced law would prohibit the dissemination of false or misleading information, rather than requiring obtrusive disclosure of information that is in all likelihood obvious to women seeking services.  Let’s face reality, when a woman goes to a crisis pregnancy center, she is almost certainly aware that they do not provide abortions.  Furthermore, if the woman seeks an abortion, it’s a simple question that such an agency would answer “no” to.  This law would place an additional, unnecessary and unjust burden on those agencies (which again, are largely non-profit, charitable organizations) providing limited services.  The bottom line is that this law is less about protecting women and more about directing women toward clinics that offer abortion, at the expense of clinics that do not, when both have an entirely valid place in our communities.

If HB 2837 or SB 6452 reach the floor of your respective chambers, I urge you to move to amend it such that it will not single out limited service facilities, by including all clinics that are not primary care facilities, such as hospitals and doctors’ offices (shouldn’t comprehensive facilities be held to the same standard of medical accuracy and information privacy?), and to be prohibitive of false or misleading information as opposed to actively requiring disclosure in an obtrusive way.  If such amendments are not made, I urge you to vote “no” on the bill should it reach the floor.

Thank you for your time, and your representation.

TheSensibleGeek Politics crisis pregnancy, Hans Dunshee, HB 2837, Mike Hope, SB 6452, Steve Hobbs

According to the BBC, the Treasury department is going to “negotiate” with 7 financial companies to cut the compensation of their top 25 employees by an average of 50%, with some salaries dropping by 90% in favor of stocks as payment, in an effort to ensure that executives act with the best interests of the company at heart.

Here’s the thing, if the executives don’t act with the best interest of the company at heart, they open themselves up to a class action lawsuit from the shareholders for failing in their fiduciary duty.  So why does the government need to involve itself, and where does the federal government get off telling a company how much they can pay their workers??

It’s based on the notion that these 7 companies took federal money as part of the TARP program, so therefore, the government can control the company.  The problem is that these stipulations weren’t in the TARP program.  The government made an agreement, and has gone back at least twice now, to change it after the fact, because they either don’t like the result, or want to do more.

I find the specter of governmental control of wages repugnant.  You may call me paranoid, but if this doesn’t bother you, I’d say you’re not paranoid enough.

TheSensibleGeek Uncategorized

It’s been a nice break these last couple months, but I’m back in the saddle, and ready to rumble.  I’m not sure if I could have been more corny in the previous sentence, but you can bet I’ll sure try.

There has been a lot of talk over the last couple months, but not a whole lot of action, hence my silence.  There’s been a lot of talk about health care reform, but no cohesive legislation for one to comment on (and I’d like to point out, no proposed legislation from the White House – just empty rhetoric).  There have more recently been developments around missile defense.  And of course, there’s always chatter about the economy.  As was coined during the Clinton administration, “it’s the economy, stupid”, but that’s a big enough subject, I’ll leave it for another day (plus, my position is pretty clear, I would think, given my past articles).

What I want to touch on today, however is the National Endowment for the Arts.  The NEA is a federally funded agency “dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education.” [link]

According to CNSNews, some Republicans in the House have raised an eyebrow to the content of a conference call the White House, NEA and Corporation for National and Community Service held last month.  Apparently, during the call, Yosi Sergant, Director of Communications at the NEA said some thing which could be construed as coercive.  According to federal law, it is illegal for federal funds to be spent encouraging people to support or oppose political agenda items, so the raised eyebrow may not be unwarranted.

Here are some quotes:

…help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda – health care, energy and the environment, safety and security, education, community renewal.

I would encourage you to pick something, whether it’s health care, education, the environment, you know, there’s four key areas that the corporation has identified as the areas of service.

Take photos. Take videos. Post it on your blogs. Get the word out. Like I said, this is a community that knows how to make a stink.

Now, I may be reading too much into this, and I’m probably allowing my personal bias through, but I wonder how enthusiastically the NEA would support an artist who wanted a grant to make something that protested health care reform.  Sergant never explicitly encouraged artists to make things that support the White House’s agenda, but it’s not much of a stretch to pick out a bit of a subtext.

Based on the 3rd quote, it seems pretty clear that Sergant wants artists to “make a stink.”  The question comes down to whether or not he wants artists that do not support the White House’s agenda to make as much of a stink as those who do.

Given the demographics of those in the “art community”, it may be a reasonably fair comparison to compare Sergant’s statements to someone encouraging KKK members to “make a stink” about race relations.  You may not explicitly encourage them to go lynch people, but the reality is that plausible deniability only goes so far.

The Communications Director of a federally funded agency that gives monetary grants to artists encourages artists (who I would contend have a predilection toward more liberal viewpoints) to “get the word out” about one of the “key areas that the corporation has identified as the areas of service.”  It doesn’t take a paranoid mind to see through the veil.  If I were an artist, I could very reasonably think that if I create something that goes “get the word out,” that perhaps my chances of receiving a grant would increase.

Again, none of this was explicitly said in the conference call, but few things in politics are.  It’s all about being able to discern the subtext.  To read between the lines.  I’d love to know why Sergant has been removed from the position of Communications Director since then.  Perhaps to give the administration deniability?  No, politicians would never do that…would they?

I may be biased, but it sure looks to me like the NEA was trying to get people to make art about policy issues, knowing the demographically, most of them would create art that supports the White House’s agenda.  If that’s the case, it may well be illegal.

Of course, if I want to be fair, Occam’s Razor could apply.  It could be that Sergant has a personal bias, that he allowed to shine through during that conference call, and it could be that he was removed from his position for it, or for some completely unrelated reason. Both the White House and the NEA said that Sergant had acted improperly, after all.  However, I have to wonder if it’s case where they’re sorry it happened, or whether they’re just sorry he got caught.  There does come a point, when there are enough isolated incidents, enough circumstantial evidence, that discussing the tree is pointless in light of the forest before you.

TheSensibleGeek Politics NEA

I have an interesting question for the readers.  When you turn right, do you look both ways?  Every time?  I’m guilty of looking only to the left, and I’m sure a lot of other people are as well.  I know at least one other person is, because I just about got into an accident with him today.

Read more…

Mike Observations stupid drivers

First off, let me apologize for the incredible lack of new articles recently.  Real life has been catching up with me recently, and I just haven’t had much brain power left at the end of the day to write anything coherent.  Having said that, I want to make sure I’ve done my due diligence, rather than ignore Sarah Palin’s resignation from the Alaskan gubernatorial seat.  Here’s the thing, I want to support Sarah Palin.  I like how “real” she seems to be — not over-polished.  But the cold hard fact is, her political career is over.

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TheSensibleGeek Politics sarah palin

CourthouseNews and several other news outlets are running reports about Paulo Serodio, a medical student who was pushed out of medical school based on his comment in a cultural diversity class that he’s white, African, and American.

This whole hyphenated-American nonsense has gone so far over the top, it’s laughable.  There have been numerous cases where, in their zeal for “political correctness,” media outlets have actually mis-reported the facts.

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TheSensibleGeek Observations immigration, Paulo Serodio, political correctness, politically correct

For quite some time, my position regarding the concept of “Equal Pay for Equal Work” has been that two people with identical experience, aptitude, responsibilities and performance should receive the same compensation.  After having thought about it more over the last few days, I’m not so sure I still hold that viewpoint.

What follows is my train of thought on this subject.  I’m particularly interested in my readers’ feedback on this one, so please email me with your comments at .

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TheSensibleGeek Economics equal pay, equal work, equality

CNSNews.com reported today that Representatives Michael Castle (R-Del.) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) announced the introduction of a bill that would require a criminal background check in every weapons purchase.  Currently, when a gun is sold privately from one individual to another, such as at a gun show, no background check is required by law.  Other lawmakers, like Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), believe further regulation would be invasive and ineffective.

I agree with Rep. Tiahrt.  When guns are more difficult to legally acquire, law abiding citizens are more deterred from purchasing a gun than criminals.

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TheSensibleGeek Economics, Politics gun control

I just wanted to jump on the proverbial bandwagon to point out how silly it is the extent to which the media is playing up this whole Swine H1N1 Flu virus.  Media headlines blared that we were in the midst of a full on outbreak.  The World Health Organization added fuel to the fire with their rating of 5 (pandemic imminent).

H1N1 Flu Facts: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/

• Confirmed cases of H1N1 Flu in the U.S.: 403 (as of 11:00 am ET, May 5, 2009)
• Deaths related to H1N1 Flu in the U.S.: 1 (as of 11:00 am ET, May 5, 2009)

Common Flu Facts: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/disease.htm

• Approximate cases of Flu in the U.S. each year: 5-20% of the population (15,000,000-60,000,000)
• Approximate Flu-related hospitalizations in the U.S. each year: 200,000
• Approximate Flu-related deaths in the U.S. each year: 36,000

That’s right, there are 98 times as many common flu deaths each year than there are H1N1 flu infections now.

I think it’s time the media stop making a big deal over this, because it’s not.

And neither was Avian Flu, West Nile Virus, SARS, or Mad Cow Disease.

Relax!

TheSensibleGeek Observations flu, h1n1, swine

I’d like to delve into the proposed Washington State budget, Chris Gregoire’s version of which can be found here.

According to a press release from the Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM), projected state revenue for the 2007-09 biennium is $27.89 billion.  The current revenue projection for the 2009-11 biennium is $27.95 billion.  The state forecasts increased revenue for the state in the upcoming budget period, over the current period, and yet, all we’ve been hearing is talk about deficits and shortfalls and the decreasing distance between the earth and the sky.

I have one question: If you make the same income this year as you did last, then how is it possible for you to have a budget shortfall?

Answer: When you want to spend more money than you receive.

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TheSensibleGeek Politics auditor, budget, deficit, gregoire, shortfall, sonntag, washington